Well is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the county of

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England. It is about 4 miles south of

Bedale Bedale ( ), is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Bedale Beck is a tributary of the River Swale, which forms one of the Yorkshire Dales. The dale has a predominant agriculture sector and its related small traditional t ...

, near Snape. The village is situated at the edge of a

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

that overlooks the

Vale of Mowbray The Vale of Mowbray is a plain in North Yorkshire, England. It is bounded by the Tees lowlands to the north, the North York Moors and the Hambleton Hills to the east, the Vale of York to the south, and the Yorkshire Dales to the west. Northall ...

. The population recorded by the 2011 Census was 230. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Hambleton, it is now administered by the unitary

North Yorkshire Council North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county coun ...

History

The 'well' of Well is a spring which, along with several other springs, feeds the beck running through the village. The well lends its name to the village, described as ''Wella'' in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

. The name ''Wella'' is

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

, literally meaning ''well'' or ''stream''. The village used to be in the

wapentake A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and in Cumberland County in the British Colony of ...

Hang East Hang EastSometimes referred to as East Hang. was a Wapentake (Hundred (county division), Hundred), which is an administrative division (or ancient district), in the historic county of the North Riding of Yorkshire. It was one of the smaller wap ...

. The village has an old school with a schoolhouse. The Old School, originally the

workhouse In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as Scottish poorhouse, poorh ...

school, was founded in 1605 by Thomas Earl of Exeter and his wife Dorothy, daughter of John Neville. The school was endowed with £30 a year for the maintenance of a master and mistress and 12 poor girls from Well and Snape. In 1788, it was converted into two single sex free schools, which each house in the village could send a boy and a girl between the ages of 6 and 13, with the option to pay for additional places. The school was rebuilt in 1867 and in 1890 had space for 80 pupils. Built in 1722, the old schoolhouse is

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

principally owing to its 18th century roof structure,

inglenook An inglenook or chimney corner is a recess that adjoins a fireplace. The word comes from "ingle", an old Scots word for a domestic fire (derived from the Gaelic ''aingeal''), and "nook". The inglenook originated as a partially enclosed hear ...

fireplace, and having been built by the same charitable trust. Today, they are both owned by "The Neville Trust", a charity named after an influential family from the

Tudor period In England and Wales, the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England, which began with ...

. In addition, there is a small playing field with two swings and a small football pitch. As these facilities are rarely used by the children in the village, the trust is now planning to sell all assets. The village still has four

almshouses An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable organization, charitable public housing, housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the povert ...

called "St Michael's Cottages" with their own

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

. There is a family-run pub called The Milbank Arms, which serves food and drinks. There is a

Methodist Chapel Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

, which holds regular services, and a village institute, which is used for children's parties, coffee mornings and other events. Every August, the village hosts a

scarecrow A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin that is often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops. ...

trail in which many of the houses create a scarecrow and give it a name; each house then has a number, and members of the community have to work out which name belongs to which scarecrow. The winner receives a cash prize. The competition usually runs from mid-August to early September. Well also has a number of walks, with views across the area; on a clear day,

Roseberry Topping Roseberry Topping is a distinctive hill in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated near Great Ayton and Newton under Roseberry. Its summit has a distinctive half-cone shape with a jagged cliff, which has led to many comparisons with the much ...

is visible.

The church

The Church of St Michael the Archangel is a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, 12th century structure. A place of worship was noted in the

, but the present structure dates from the 12th and 14th centuries, being built by Sir Ralph Neville. The church contains a portion of

Roman mosaic A Roman mosaic is a mosaic made during the Roman period, throughout the Roman Republic and later Empire. Mosaics were used in a variety of private and public buildings, on both floors and walls, though they competed with cheaper frescos for the ...

found in 1859.

References

External links

Well Village Website
Contains information on the village and history.

{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire